The Lonely One
by AngieXRosyX
Summary: The physical bullies he could handle. That pain didn't last as long as the verbal assault did. One day, he's beaten up again and the day just gets worse and worse, but then becomes a day Naruto will cherish forever. Some violence, Rated T just in case.


**Angie: It's been a while since I've ever really put out a new story, but since I was writing a narrative for English anyway, I figured 'Hey! I can just change the names and VIOLA I have a fanfiction. So that's exactly what I did. This story is supposed to be depressing, but the ending is happy. I hope you all like it!**

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Vast ocean eyes stared up bitterly at the older boys in front of him. He was pressed with his back to the corner of an alley just a couple blocks away from his orphanage. Angrily, he bit his lower lip. He had nowhere to run. The wet, dirty brick of the wall was dampening his tattered shirt and rubbed roughly against his sun kissed skin. Slowly one of the taller boys approached him menacingly.

"We don't want to hurt you, Naruto." The boy pressed to the wall, Randy, glared at them from his spot. The older boy held his hand out.

"We just want our money." The child spat at his feet. This earned him a-none too gentle punch across the mouth. Naruto sputtered a bit, clenching his jaw to the warm feeling spreading over his lips and teeth. He bitterly wondered if the loose tooth he had decided to come out. The rusty, metallic taste in his mouth confirmed his previous assumption. Shuddering, he spit out the tooth along with blood mixed with his spit. The feeling of bile pushed its way up his throat, but he forced the burning sensation down. He hated blood. It made him feel ill. Naruto looked up at the boys through his greasy blonde hair. They glared back.

"I don't have it…" the blonde muttered. Honestly, he had brought this upon himself. He knew he could go without eating breakfast and lunch, but he had subjected himself to even more torture from these brutes by borrowing money from them.

The smallest of the four boys, who was only a little taller than Randy, stalked toward him and punched him in the gut. Naruto curled around the fist in his belly, suddenly feeling the urge to vomit again. The putrid taste rose to his mouth, but he forced his mouth to stay shut. If he vomited, they would think him weak. His knees ached from falling so hard on to the concrete. Naruto frowned, knowing scrapes would be on his knees later. He could barely sit up straight, the pain that blossomed in his belly seeming to spread to his chest. Naruto began to look up, but he was never given a chance. All of them surrounded him, kicking him violently. Pain bloomed everywhere as he tried desperately to keep his head from being hurt. It seemed in slow motion that he fell to the rough concrete of the alley. One of his eyes was already slowly shutting. That meant his eye was swelling. Naruto watched blearily as they walked away from him, cursing at him over their shoulders. Cowards… His whole body was tingling from the pain.

His swollen eye could no longer see. It didn't matter to him. The blonde didn't bother picking himself up or moving. He much preferred to sleep outside on days like these. Limping a few blocks would be too much work and a lot more painful. The blonde sighed, then instantly regret it. It hurt to breathe. He gently shut his other eye and tried to ignore the left over taste of blood in his mouth. Shuffling feet against pavement made him snap his eye back open in fear. Were they back? No, there was only one set of footsteps. Naruto shifted slightly, grunting as pain shot through his side. He could see a darker figure, about his size. Naruto shifted a bit more, ignoring the pain, to see him better. He'd seen this kid before. He was tall, almost lanky, but the baby fat on him discerned his age. The dark haired boy stared down at him with blank dark eyes. Naruto glared with his one good eye, daring him to even touch him.

The boy simply stared back at him, dark eyes swimming with what seemed to be little to no emotions, but Naruto saw them. They were all there, being held back from view. Sasuke was his name; the most fawned over boy in his fourth grade class. Naruto almost hated him with how much attention he got, though the dark haired boy never acknowledged them and when he did, it was to give their classmates glares. Sasuke had no idea how lucky he was to have a family, to have people look at him, to have someone to care. He felt his throat close up and his eyes sting as tears threatened to bunch at the rim of his eyes. No, he wouldn't cry, not in front of this heartless boy. He swallowed, shivering at the remaining taste of the blood from his tooth. Sasuke looked him over, his dark eyes scanning over Naruto's thinner body. The blonde tensed visibly. He didn't want pity from someone who didn't understand. No one understood. Naruto shifted again, turning his body away from Sasuke. He wanted nothing to do with this kid. He'd rather be stuck with the kid that slept in class all the time. There were more footsteps along with girlish giggling and a few squeals. Naruto's nose scrunched in disgust. Why did girls' have to have such high pitched voices? The shuffling stopped and Naruto tried his hardest to ignore the giggles. Why were they still here? They all ignored him in class and called him annoying. He felt his body shiver uncontrollably. It was getting colder which usually meant the sun was setting. Slowly, he pushed himself to sit up. Sasuke was blatantly ignoring the chattering girls next to him to stare at Naruto. The blonde watched him curiously as the darker haired boy started to move his arm out for Naruto. It was stopped before it could make it by the pink haired girl, Sakura. She was the "leader" of the group of girls. Naruto hated her the most. She was always so mean to him; pushing him and calling him mean things.

"Why is he here? He's so dirty and gross. Sasuke, you should walk me home," she said, distain evident in her voice when she was talking about Naruto. He felt his shoulders tense. The verbal abuse was worse than the physical. He didn't want to have both in one day.

"Is your hair supposed to be blonde? Why does it look brown?" asked a red haired girl.

The blonde of the group giggled, "He doesn't wash it. Duh." All the girls giggled. Sakura pulled gently on Sasuke's arm, with said boy still ignoring her, yet looked utterly annoyed she was touching him.

"Come on, Sasuke. Walk me home. I don't want to be near the smelly boy anymore." Naruto shifted his gaze to the pavement. A bubbling feeling rose through his chest and up into his throat, closing it. His eyes burned and he refused to look up because he knew they would just make fun of him for crying. Naruto tried desperately to fight the urge back. They were just words. They shouldn't hurt. He knew they hurt the worst, even though he tried hard to tell himself he wasn't hurt by them. A choked sob escaped his throat and the girls started to laugh.

"Aw, he's crying!" Naruto's lip trembled and he moved his arms around himself as if trying to shield himself from the world. The girls laughed harder as Sakura picked up a thrown out broom and poked him with it.

"Stop it…" he whimpered weakly. Sakura ignored him and continued her poking, getting rougher each time. The clang of the broom made Naruto look up sharply to see Sasuke, dark eyes angry and chubby face twisted with emotion, shoving Sakura onto the ground. The blonde blinked at him owlishly while the girls immediately quieted. Sasuke broke the tight silence.

"Stop poking him with a broom like he's an animal. You're so annoying. Go away, Sakura," Sasuke said, voice cold. Tears brimmed in Sakura's eyes before she got up and ran away from the alley, her friends following after her in worry. Sasuke turned to Naruto, who was watching him with wide oceanic eyes. Those eyes blinked slowly, dubiously at Sasuke, who simply put his hand out for Naruto to take. The blonde took his hand hesitantly and was pulled to his feet.

"I'm Sasuke." Naruto gulped and looked up at him nervously.

"I'm Naruto." Sasuke nodded and grabbed his hand.

"I'll be your friend, Naruto." The blonde's eyes stung once again, but this time it wasn't sadness that made him want to cry.

"Okay… We'll be friends," Naruto agreed, rubbing his arm to his eyes and grinning at Sasuke. And Sasuke gave a small smile in return.


End file.
